In 2012, a derelict 1866 Washington house was listed on a waterfront lot worth more without it; preservationists spent 6 years buying it and 8 more restoring it before reopening it in 2026

Picture from the book ‘Granville Haller: Leader’ by Martin N. Chamberlain via Historicwhidbey.org In 2012, a crumbling 1866 farmhouse sat on a prized waterfront lot in Coupeville, Washington, listed for sale at a price that reflected the land’s value far more than the building’s. The Haller House, one of the oldest surviving structures on Whidbey…

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In 2024, Melinda French Gates resigned from the foundation that carried her name, took $12.5 billion with her, and is now spending those billions on … |

Melinda French Gates resigned from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in May 2024, three years after her divorce, taking $12.5 billion with her to direct independently. Rather than spreading that money across a broad portfolio of causes, Melinda Gates decided to single at one and narrow the target to women and girls and specifically…

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Once hunted to near extinction, Brazil’s humpback whales make a stunning comeback, population surges from just 2,000 to nearly 35,000 in two decades

A humpback whale breaches off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP photo) Humpback whales are returning in large numbers to Brazil’s coast after being pushed close to extinction by commercial whaling. Their population in the South Atlantic has risen from about 2,000 to around 35,000 in roughly 40 years, bringing the species close…

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